In the United States and Canada, this time zone is generically called Mountain Time (MT). Specifically, it is Mountain Standard Time (MST) when observing standard time, and Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) when observing daylight saving time. The term refers to how the Rocky Mountains, which range from northwestern Canada to the US state of New Mexico, are located almost entirely in the time zone. In Mexico, this time zone is known as the Zona Pacífico (Pacific Zone). In the US and Canada, the Mountain Time Zone is to the east of the Pacific Time Zone and to the west of the Central Time Zone.

In some areas, starting in 2007, the local time changes from MST to MDT at 2am MST to 3am MDT on the second Sunday in March and returns at 2am MDT to 1am MST on the first Sunday in November.

Sonora in Mexico and most of Arizona in the United States do not observe daylight saving time, and during the spring, summer, and autumn months they are on the same time as Pacific Daylight Time.[4] The Navajo Nation, most of which lies within Arizona, does observe DST, although the Hopi Nation, as well as some Arizona state offices lying within the Navajo Nation, do not.

The largest city in the Mountain Time Zone is Phoenix, Arizona. The Phoenix metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the zone; the next largest metropolitan area that observes Mountain Time is Denver, closely followed by the El Paso–Juárez area.
TV broadcasting in the Mountain Time Zone is typically tape-delayed one hour, so that shows match the broadcast times of the Central Time Zone (i.e. prime time begins at 7 pm MT following the same order of programming as the Central Time Zone).[citation needed]

^The specification for the Mountain Time Zone in the United States is set forth at 49 CFR 71.8.[1] The boundary between Central and Mountain time zones is set forth at 49 CFR 71.7,[2] and the boundary between Mountain and Pacific time zones is set forth at 49 CFR 71.9.[3]